Children's Law Center

Guardian ad litem program - Children's Law Center's attorneys are appointed by judges within the dc superior court to represent approximately half the children involved with the dc child and family services agency - several hundred children in foster care and protective supervision each year. We make sure their perspectives and wishes are heard and their best interests are prioritized. Our representation a multi-disciplinary team of attorneys, social workers, investigators and education attorneys who advocate for the support children need to heal from the traumas that brought them into the child welfare system and to leave the foster care system safe, healthy, and learning.

Systemic advocacy - our systemic advocacy is grounded in our experience working with more than 50,000 district children and families since our founding in 1996. We use this expertise to partner with the mayor, district agencies, the dc council, other advocates, parents, and youth to find and implement city-wide solutions that better serve Children's needs. We work to change laws, policies and practice and appellate case Law. We also secure media coverage to raise awareness about the district's successes and failures in meeting Children's needs. Whether it is ensuring appellate caselaw provides concrete guidance on how to evaluate the harm of removal when determining whether to place a child in foster care, securing historic special education reforms, pressing agencies to better prepare older youth who age out of foster care or improving behavioral health services within dc schools our policy and appellate advocacy delivers real results that have improved hundreds of thousands of Children's lives.

Healthy together - unsafe housing, inadequate education, exposure to violence, lack of good health care and other problems related to poverty, trauma and racism can harm Children's physical and behavioral health. Through our healthy together program, Children's Law Center partners with pediatricians throughout eight community health centers and clinics to find and fix the root causes of a child's health problem such as advocating for landlords to repair water damage that led to mold which exacerbates a child's asthma. And because health and education are inextricably linked, Children's Law Center also ensures children can start school ready to learn by helping infants and toddlers with developmental delays get support early. When children reach school age, Children's Law Center works with parents and schools to get a child's education back on track from ensuring testing for learning disabilities at an early age to making sure students with disabilities or behavioral health issues have an appropriate plan that meets their learning needs.

Pro bono - although Children's Law Center is one of the largest nonprofit legal providers in dc, many more children come to us than we can help. Our pro bono team places children, parents and caregivers in need of legal services with 400 pro bono attorneys every year from the area's top Law firms, in-house legal departments and government agencies to help fill the gap. Regardless of their prior experience or what type of case they take, pro bono lawyers find success helping dc children because of our comprehensive intakes and our commitment to high-quality training and mentoring. Our in-house team of lawyers also help children whose caregivers are disputing custody, shielding them from conflict and helping families agree on a plan to support their Children's well-being. And, when parents can no longer safely care for their children, clc helps grandparents and other caring adults who step up to give them a home, whether through adoption, custody or guardianship.